Torn
by Tinea
Summary: Batman and Vixen have a late night conversation on the Watchtower. They each come to an important realization. One-shot.


**Vixen & Batman - TORN**

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**Well, this was somewhat unexpected for me. I didn't plan on writing it, but the idea just wouldn't go away. This takes place two months after "Once and Future Thing". As you can gather from the title, it is about Vixen and Batman. An odd team, but I was thinking about it the other day, and I realised they were both involved in the same kind of love triangle. John loves Shayera, who is bad for him, but doesn't really love Vixen, who seems a much healthier choice. Likewise, Batman loves Selina, a criminal and enemy he shouldn't be involved with, while he doesn't love Diana, who would be perfect to him. **

**Oh, and try to picture Kevin Conroy saying all of Baman's lines. Seriously, chills. Lol.**

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"So," Vixen smirked, "busy as always?"

Batman "hnn'd" noncommittally and continued to work. He _was_ busy, and _chatting _wouldn't get the mission reports catalogued any faster. But she obviously didn't come here for the company. She had a reason.

"Giving me the silent treatment, huh? You know, John swears up and down that you can carry on a conversation when you want to."

So that's what this was about. John. Green Lantern's behavior had abruptly shifted. Mari noticed immediately. She would question him and sooner or later, John would slip up and mention a 'mission with Batman'. After that, it would only be a matter of time before Mari came to him for answers. One problem- it wasn't his.

Vixen pulled out a nail-file and set to work. She was, unfortunately, showing a great deal of resolve. Most people could barely stand to be in the same room with him when he didn't want them there. Made them uncomfortable, "weirded out" as Wally had put it. He could outwait Vixen if he needed to…

"Wormhole. Time-travel. We ended up in the future. He met his son."

Small talk would have been pointless.

Mari stopped filing. She stared down at him. Just stared. Took a breath. "You went-? The future… that's what he…? _His son?_"

Batman could see her mind working out the possibilities, running through every scenario she could think of. He could see her picturing a tall, strong boy with John's features… and her eyes. Hoping, wishing, that just maybe,_ that _was why John started ignoring Shayera. John had proof that his future was with her and he wasn't conflicted anymore; Shayera was the past and Mari was the future.

Batman told himself that none of it was his problem. That John could run and hide if he wanted to. It wasn't his fault if Mari got the wrong impression, it was her own. John was lying to himself, to Vixen by default, but none of that was Batman's concern. If John wasn't willing to be honest with Mari, then that was his own choice. Batman had _no_ reason to correct Mari, to tell her the truth...

"Warhawk."

"Oh," and then he could see Mari's vision changing. The boy still had John's eyes… but now he had wings. She had lost out. Shayera had won.

"And… how long has he-?"

"Two months."

She went silent, and again he could see her trying to explain it all away. John saw his future child with Shayera, proof that they were suppose to be together, and yet he was still with Mari. That had to count for something, had to mean he loved her more than he loved Shayera. Maybe he didn't want that future. Maybe John wanted to make his _own _future, with her. Wishing it all away.

"He wants that future. He just can't find a way to justify it."

Vixen narrowed her eyes, "You sound like you're talking from experience."

"Situation I understand"

"So you saw _your_ future kid and now you're a wreck, too?" She tried to keep her voice light, hide the waver, the bite. He heard it.

"No." He wasn't going to tell her that twenty years ago, he looked exactly like Terry. Wasn't going to say that he had spent endless hours thinking of every woman he had ever known, attempting to match someone's features to Terry's wherever his own traits didn't show. Wasn't going to tell her _that wasn't _the situation he meant.

"Then you want something. Someone you can't '_justify'_?"

Vixen had far more perception than he liked in a person. He stared at her, tried to assess what she was possibly seeing in him at the moment. She stared right back. She had more defiance than he cared for, too.

"I love her. I shouldn't. There's someone else I _should_ love. I don't." He wasn't going to go into detail about a thief and a princess and what they should or shouldn't mean to him, though someone who knew him well enough could have figured it out. Vixen didn't know him well enough.

This wasn't about him, though. He shifted the focus of the conversation back to her. "John thinks if he stays with you, his life will be simpler- ideal, happy, and free of complications. He's frustrated with himself because he still has feelings for Shayera."

Vixen slammed her fist against the computer and screamed, "If he loves her so much than why doesn't he just go back to her!"

"Because he's a Marine. Simper Fi: Always Faithful… and she wasn't."

And that's when it hit home. Her fist fell from the screen, disappeared with her anger. It was replaced by defeat, "So what, I only get John because I've been a good girl and Shayera hasn't?"

"You're justifiable."

She stood up, but she was still looking down, "I'm second place. That's not where I want to be. I love John, I want to be with him, but I deserve someone who actually loves me back."

Batman pushed away from the computer and rose from his chair. He towered over Vixen, waited until she looked him in the eyes, the tone in his voice left no room for misinterpretation. "And you're telling _me this?"_ It was a question, but he wasn't the one who needed the answer.

He turned towards the door, his cape trailing dramatically behind him as he made his exit, but before he could go Mari spoke, "Whoever she is, she doesn't deserve to be second place either."

He stopped, to acknowledge her? To think? To answer? It bothered him that he had to wonder who 'she' was suppose to be, to him at least. One woman coming in second to another? Or anyone, coming in second to Gotham, to the Mission? - But then he realized something.

He had said _"love". _

"I know."

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**The End.**

**So anywho, you may find the story to be a bit vague, so I appologise for any confusion. Honestly, I had absolutely no idea where I was going with this when I wrote it. Like I said, it was just that one kind of idea that wouldn't go away.**

** On another note, while this is a stand-alone one-shot, I am thinking about starting up a new drabble series.**


End file.
